Iran increases warnings against protesters, threatens US troops in region as unrest enters second week

Dubai, United Arab Emirates — Nationwide unrest challenges Iran’s theocracy I saw demonstrators taking over the streets in the country’s capital and second-largest city Saturday evening and Sunday morning, passing the two-week milestone as an outside monitoring group said at least 116 people had been killed.

With the internet down Iran and with phone lines cut, it became more difficult to assess the protests from abroad. But according to the American news agency Human Rights Activists News Agency, which relies on a network of contacts inside the country, the number of deaths due to clashes between demonstrators and Iranian security forces has continued to climb, and more than 2,600 others have been arrested over the past two weeks.

Facing the most significant challenge in years, Iran’s theocratic leaders have made increasingly harsh threats against those they claim are US- and Israeli-influenced agitators – and responded threats of American intervention from President Trump with their own corresponding threats.

The speaker of Iran’s parliament has warned that the US military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America strikes the Islamic Republic, as President Trump has threatened. Qalibaf made the threat as lawmakers rushed to the stage of Iran’s parliament shouting, “Death to America!”

Those abroad fear the information blackout will embolden hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown, despite Mr Trump’s warnings that he is prepared to strike the Islamic Republic if protesters are killed.

Saturday afternoon, Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social that “Iran is looking toward FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The United States is ready to help!!!”

“I’m sure it really scared a lot of Iranian officials and maybe affected their actions in terms of how they confront the protesters, but at the same time it inspired a lot of protesters to come out because they know that the leader of the world’s major superpower supports their cause,” Maziar Bahari, editor-in-chief of the IranWire news site, told CBS News.

The New York Times and Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed U.S. officials, said late Saturday that Mr. Trump had been given military options for a strike against Iran but had not made a final decision.

Iranian lawmaker says ‘threat signs’ could trigger attacks on US troops

Iranian state television broadcast live Sunday’s parliamentary session. Qalibaf, a hard-liner who has run for president in the past, gave a speech applauding Iran’s police and Revolutionary Guard paramilitaries, particularly its all-volunteer Basij, for “standing their ground” during the protests.

“The Iranian people must know that we will treat them in the harshest manner and punish those who are arrested,” Qalibaf said.

He then directly threatened Israel, “the occupied territory” as he calls it, and the US military, possibly with a pre-emptive strike.

“In the event of an attack on Iran, both the occupied territory and all US military centers, bases and ships in the region will be our legitimate targets,” Qalibaf said. “We are not limited to reacting after the action and will act based on any objective sign of a threat.”

It remains unclear how seriously Iran is considering launching a strike, particularly after seeing its air defenses destroyed in the war. the 12 day war in june with Israel, which has also seen the United States carry out strikes against its nuclear facilities. Any decision to go to war would fall to Iran’s supreme leader, 86-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The U.S. military said that in the Middle East it “is equipped with forces that span the full range of combat capabilities to defend our forces, our partners and allies, and U.S. interests.”

Iran targeted US forces at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar in June, while the US Navy’s Middle East-based 5th Fleet is stationed in the island kingdom of Bahrain.

Iran threatens protesters with death sentences

Online videos sent from Iran, likely using Starlink satellite transmitters, reportedly show a gathering in the Punak neighborhood north of Tehran. There, authorities appear to have closed the streets, with demonstrators brandishing their cellphones on. Others banged metal as fireworks went off.

Another video reportedly showed protesters peacefully marching down a street and others honking horns in the street.

“Protests in the capital have largely taken the form of dispersed, short-lived, fluid gatherings, an approach shaped in response to the heavy presence of security forces and increased pressure on the ground,” the Human Rights Activists news agency said. “At the same time, reports were received of surveillance drone overflights and movements of security forces around the protest sites, indicating continued surveillance and security monitoring.”

In Mashhad, Iran’s second-largest city, about 720 kilometers northeast of Tehran, a video purported to show protesters clashing with security forces. Debris and burning dumpsters were visible in the street, blocking the road. Mashhad is home to the Imam Reza Shrine, the holiest shrine in Shiite Islam, giving the protests taking place there a heavy significance for the country’s theocracy.

Protests also appear to have taken place in Kerman, 800 kilometers southeast of Tehran.

On Sunday morning, Iranian state television spoke to the protesters, bringing their correspondents into the streets of several cities to show quiet areas with a date stamp displayed on the screen. Tehran and Mashhad were not included. They also organized pro-government protests in Qom and Qazvin.

Khamenei announced an upcoming crackdown, despite American warnings. Tehran stepped up its threats on Saturday, with Iran’s Attorney General Mohammad Movahedi Azad warning that anyone taking part in protests would be considered an “enemy of God”, punishable by death. The statement broadcast by Iranian state television said even those who “helped the rioters” would be prosecuted.

Iran’s theocracy cut off internet and international phone calls to the nation on Thursday, while allowing some state and semi-official media outlets to publish. Qatar’s state-funded Al Jazeera news channel has been broadcasting live from Iran, but it appears to be the only major foreign media outlet able to work.

Exiled Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, who called for protests on Thursday and Friday, in his latest message asked demonstrators to take to the streets on Saturday and Sunday. He urged protesters to carry the old Iranian lion and sun flag and other national symbols used during the shah’s era to “claim public spaces as your own.”

Pahlavi’s support for Israel has drawn criticism in the past, particularly after the 12 Day War. Protesters have shouted in support of the Shah during some demonstrations, but it is unclear whether this is in support of Pahlavi himself or a desire to return to a time before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The protests began on December 28 following the collapse of the Iranian rial, which trades at more than 1.4 million to the dollar, as the country’s economy is strained by international sanctions imposed in part because of its nuclear program. The protests intensified and turned into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.